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The Atlantic quotes a dodgy corporate "think tank" (I routinely see them make bogus claims on broadband) that insists that people should love having an AI data center in their backyard, because the low latency means innovators will flock to the neighborhood, which is an outright lie

this idea that a new local data center means a ton of local jobs and innovation is one of the biggest lies tech corporations and their assorted mouthpieces are telling communities (including tribal) to get them to sign off on their unregulated energy hoovering ambitions

innovators aren't moving to the middle of nowhere to develop new innovations because an additional 5ms of latency is irrelevant. And once they've built a giant fenced off energy hoovering campus they'll distance themselves from the community and the only jobs will be outsourced janitorial

the "progressive policy institute" cited by the Atlantic (unchallenged) claims to be a "center left" pro-competition think tank, but they're covertly funded by a lot of shitty companies (like AT&T) and routinely argue against stuff like corporate oversight or community-owned broadband

like here they are, on big telecom's behalf, insisting U.S. broadband is perfectly competitive and community-owned broadband networks are an inherently dangerous and terrible idea (incorrect)

Small town near me started municipal internet and it lowered their telecoms costs from $200 to like $50-$75 a month for the same service.

Wild, telecom is as much a natural monopoly as utilities.

This all needs to be leveraged as the ultimate example of why they fucking owe us for all their riches and need to pay their fair share. It illustrates perfectly that for all the successes and wealth they've enjoyed, socialized costs of infrastructure are what make it all possible.

Any person or organization described by mainstream media as "center left" is neither center nor left.